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a four-metre crocodile.
For almost 40 minutes, Todd Bairstow battled to free himself from the massive reptile by clinging desperately to the branches of mangrove trees and punching the croc with his bare fists.
The bauxite mine worker, from Rio Tinto, Australia, was fishing on the banks of Trundling Creek on Wednesday near the town of Weipa when the huge crocodile lunged out of the water.
His finger was bitten off and he slipped into the water as he tried to scramble clear.
But the animal bit on to his legs and kept rolling ‘around and around’ in a death roll as it tried to drag him into deeper water. Mr Bairstow (28) grabbed on to nearby branches and hung on for dear life as he punched it, poked it in the eyes and tried to pull its jaws apart.
Both his legs were broken as the crocodile tried to roll him under the water and he was up to his neck when a rescuer heard his screams from the nearby Albatross Hotel.
The man had been standing on the veranda of the pub when he heard the scream, tore a branch off a mango tree, jumped into the water and smashed it down repeatedly on the crocodile’s snout.
The animal finally gave up and let go, before swimming away.
Mr Bairstow’s father said: “You can’t imagine a more terrifying experience. He fought for 40 minutes until he was saved.”
He was air lifted to Cairns by the Royal Flying Doctor Service suffering extensive lacerations to his lower limbs, cuts to his hands, a broken leg and dislocated joints.
He was then taken to Cairns Base Hospital where he underwent surgery.
The avid fisherman, pig hunter and outdoorsman, told friends on Facebook how he was ‘living the dream’ in the wilderness of Cape York.
One entry said he was off to a popular fishing spot, known as Jurassic Park, to ‘slay some barra’ – referring to the famous Australian fighting fish barramundi.
The Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management said it would try to remove the crocodile.
Mike Devery, acting director for wildlife, said the creek was a ‘known croc habitat’.
“A Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service ranger stationed at Weipa is installing recent croc sighting signs,” he said. – Daily Mail.
Online Reporter